Percy met up with Thalia and Nico in the morning. "Did you have the dream?" Thalia asked, and Percy nodded. After a brief discussion, it turned out that they had variations of the dream. Thalia's dream was of Percy and Nico on a plane, and them falling. Nico's dream was of Percy and Thalia running in an underground maze, and the maze collapsing. All three of them were shaken.
Percy said his good-bye to Annabeth right before they departed. Annabeth was still displeased, but she didn't say anything. They hugged and Percy gave her a small kiss on the cheek. Percy, Thalia, and Nico headed to the Empire State Building. They were all very excited, yet kind of worried. Premonition seemed to be the cause of this unease.
Riding the elevator up to the 600th floor, Thalia gave a shaky smile. "Let's see what our quest is." They walked through Mount Olympus to where the gods and goddesses were. The three of them stood in front of the twelve Olympians. Thalia stood tall and strong, Nico was looking at his feet, and Percy was surveying the Olympians to examine their mood. They all looked a little anxious. Hestia smiled at them from her place near the fire. Apollo was listening to his iPod, while Artemis kept glaring at him. "Pay attention!" she exclaimed, although Apollo just ignored her.
Zeus walked up and spoke to them. "We need your help. A new enemy has risen up. Hades has sent us a distress call. You must report to him."
They were immediately dismissed. As they rode down the elevator, Percy was annoyed. "Couldn't they just tell us to go to Hades?" "That may have been a bad message. Also, maybe they didn't want anyone to know they needed Hades's help." Thalia explained. Nico had a sour expression on his face. "Let's not forget who save the battle when Kronos-Luke was attacking!"
Sighing, they all quickly made the journey to the Underworld. Thalia would occasionally mutter and shake her head. Nico would concentrate and think. Percy was just confused about the whole business.
Finally, they stepped down into the Underworld.